My onsite big brother
by teal'c08
Summary: Previously "Good Enough" Takes place after "Beyond our control" Claudia is trying to decide about Todd and Pete tries to help her.
1. Chapter 1

"Myka! Just leave it alone already!" Claudia exclaimed as she dislodged herself from her place on Pete's bed where she had been curled up against his side. Silence could be heard as she stormed out the door and across the hall to her own room. The sound of her door slamming reverberated throughout the inn. The two agents shared a shocked and confused look before Myka moved to go after the younger girl, but found herself gently restrained by her partner's hand on her arm.

"Let me," he said softly, but she could detect a warning edge to his tone that was foreign to her. Before she could respond, Pete had already walked out of the room and was knocking on Claudia's door. She could see his lips moving as he talked through the wooden door but she was unable to make out what he was saying. Whatever it was must have appealed to the spirited girl because the door opened and Pete walked inside the other room, shutting the door behind her and effectively cutting off Myka.

Pete gently rapped his knuckles against the solid wooden door and hoped against hope that it would be enough to get the feisty redhead to let him in. When all he got was a muffled "Go away" as a response, he knew that it wouldn't be that simple. "Come on Claud, let me in." When he still got no response, Pete leaned closer and spoke in a quiet voice. "I'm not Myka, Claudia; I'm not going to judge you, I'm not going to push you. Come on, you know you can trust me." When his pleas garnered no response, Pete began to walk away, only stopping when the door swung open seemingly on its own accord. When he looked into the room, he could see Claudia laying on her back and staring at the ceiling with a large remote in her hand. As he walked into the room, Pete couldn't stop the smile from forming on his lips. _Only Claudia would rig a remote control to her bedroom door. _

Without saying a word, Pete walked over and climbed onto the bed next to the younger girl, assuming the same supine position. Claudia didn't immediately acknowledge his presence, but, after a few minutes, Pete felt her shift towards him and rest her head on his shoulder. A smile formed on his face again as he raised his arm and wrapped it around Claudia's shoulders, drawing the redhead closer and dropping a kiss on the top of her head. As she settled in against his side, Pete began to gently stroke her short hair, slowly lulling the girl into a light sleep.

Half an hour later, Pete felt Claudia begin to stir, her head subconsciously leaning towards the hand that was still gently running through her hair. Her eyes slowly opened and as she looked up, Pete was struck by how unguarded her expression was. For the first time, he realized that, while she always appeared so unbelievably free and open, she always had a barrier up, which he never noticed until he was _allowed_ to see her without it.

"Hey, feeling better?" He asked when she was fully awake. She nodded, almost shyly, a shocking look on her. "Do you want to talk about it now?" when she shook her head, Pete shifted and gave her a stern look that he really hoped worked quickly because he didn't think he could hold it for long. Luckily, Claudia caved and sat up to lean against the headboard.

"What do you want to know?" She asked, still hoping to skirt around the topic.

"What do you want to tell me?" Pete replied quickly, trying to stay true to his word of not pushing her.

"I just got sick of Myka pushing me to go out with Todd. That's it."

"I highly doubt that's it, Claud. Myka teasing you alone wouldn't have put you over the edge like that. I mean, people have had to tease you about boyfriends before, right?" He said with a sly smile that quickly fell off his face when she noticed the evasive look on the younge4r girl's face. "Claudia?" he asked in an almost unsure voice.

Claudia turned away from the loose thread with which she had been playing and graced Pete with a sad, almost self-deprecating smile. "What boyfriends?" she said with a laugh.

"Okay then, teased you about a date." He said, covering up his mild shock quickly. He figured that the guys she dated just weren't good enough for her to consider boyfriends- not an unreasonable thing since she was clearly much too good for anyone her age.

Claudia laughed that meek laugh again and responded with a soft "What dates?"

This time Pete wasn't as adept at schooling his features; the shock and confusion were obvious in his expression. He sat up quickly and stared at the redhead that was usually so sure of herself it was almost unnerving and now all he could see was a shy and unsure girl, and he didn't quite know what to do. "You mean you've never…" He trailed off, still not completely sure how the beautiful twenty-two year old next to him could possibly be telling him that she'd never gone out on a date.

"It's not like I've _never_ dated, it's just that I've, you know, never _dated_." She said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed to stand up.

"And the difference would be…?"

By then Claudia was standing in front her dresser, fiddling with the odds and ends that she had thrown there over her year at the warehouse. "Well, one is a conscious decision to not date and the other is the unfortunate result of never being asked." She said, still facing away from him.

Pete slowly got up from the bed, walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, gently squeezing them as he did so. He once again kissed the top of her head and then rested his cheek where he had just kissed. Claudia sighed and leaned back in his hold, her eyes locking with his in the mirror. "How could no one have asked you?" he asked in a whisper. "Why would anyone ask me out, Pete?" She said in a slightly irritated tone. She pulled out of his hold and crossed to the other side of the room before spinning around and almost glaring at him. "I didn't develop this freaky tech-girl thing recently, you know. I've always been a little, shall we say, eccentric, but add on to that the fact that I was in foster care when I was going to high school? I was a freak, Pete. I spent most of my time trying to find my brother, my clothes smelt like garbage bags because that was all they would give us to keep our possessions in, and I definitely wasn't hot enough to make it to the other side of the crazy/sexy scale."

"What's that supposed to mean? What crazy/sexy scale?"

Claudia let out a sarcastic laugh before answering. "Come on Pete, you know what I'm talking about. There's a certain amount of crazy that a guy will forgive if the girl is hot enough. For example, Myka could have killed a guy before and no one would care because she is _that_ attractive. I, on the other hand, can barely get away with eating something strange before a guy says 'yeah, she is _so_ not worth it."

Pete walked over to the feisty girl and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "You are gorgeous, Claudia. Gorgeous, okay? And don't let ANYone tell you differently. And as for Todd, if he was smart enough to realize how amazing you are, than maybe, just maybe, he's good enough for you. Call him, ask him for a cup of coffee and just see how things go." He let go of her shoulders and started for the door. Just before he closed it behind him, he stuck his head back into the room. "By the way, if you would have been in my high school, the 'crazy/sexy scale' wouldn't have been a question because all I would have been thinking about was 'How do I get this goddess to go out with me because she is quite obviously way out of my league." With that, Pete finally walked out, throwing a "see you at dinner" over his shoulder.

Claudia still stood completely still in the middle of her bedroom, starring at the door and wondering what the hell had just happened.


	2. Chapter 2

Claudia made her way down the stairs after getting off of the phone with Todd. As soon as she entered the dining room, she was struck by the heartwarming scene of her dysfunctional "family," forced together by circumstance but thicker than blood, gathered together at the dining room table.

Claudia walked up behind Pete and wrapped her arms around his neck in an awkward attempt to hug him from behind. "Thank you." She whispered in his ear. Pete smiled and reached up to gently squeeze her arms, happily accepting the kiss that she pressed to his cheek.

Claudia moved to take the seat next to him and Pete immediately started to make a plate for her, choosing only her favorites without much thought, a feat that never ceased to surprise the younger girl.

"I take it you called him." Pete said as he handed the plate to her. Despite trying to suppress a smile and appear nonchalant, Claudia couldn't keep the large grin from forming on her lips as she nodded.

"And…" Pete prodded, though he already suspected the answer.

"And… we have a date tomorrow night at the diner. Happy?"

"He's taking you to the diner?" He asked in an incredulous tone.

Claudia looked up at him with a confused expression on her face. "Yeah… what's wrong with the diner? _We_ eat there all the time."

"He should be trying to woo you, Claud. He should be taking you to the finest restaurant with cloth napkins and waiters who come over to refill your water glass far too often and…"

While Pete ranted, Claudia simply rested her head on her head and nodded at him with a smirk formed on her lips, her eyes softly sparkling.

"…and he should pull out your chair for you and, I don't know-"

"Are you done yet?" She finally cut in with a cheeky smile. "You're starting to sound a little like Artie with all this old fashioned speak… I mean, did you really just use the word 'woo'?" she added, ignoring the affronted "Hey" that came from the other end of the table.

Pete rolled his eyes and got up from his seat to collect the plates; Claudia immediately got up to help him and followed him into the kitchen. "I'm just saying you deserve the best, okay? Your first date should be something amazing, something you'll always remember. Todd should be pulling out all the stops with you, not shelling out 10 bucks for a bowl of chili and a turkey sandwich!" As he spoke, Pete pulled out a tub of Neapolitan ice cream from the freezer and grabbed two spoons from the drawer. After handing one to the red-head, he turned the tub so that the vanilla side was next to her, knowing that she preferred it to chocolate (Only Artie ever ate the strawberry ice cream in the middle, no one else would touch it with a ten foot pole. In fact, they usually left a thin strip of chocolate and vanilla on either side of to ensure that they never had to taste the unnaturally pink flavor). Claudia smiled at him and sunk her spoon into the cream colored dessert.

"I happen to like their chili." She said with a mock pout after she swallowed her bite. Pete sighed and leaned over the counter to grab some ice cream for himself.

"You know what I mean so stop making fun of me."

Claudia smiled and walked over to the other side of the counter and pressed a kiss to his cheek, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I know what you mean, but I want to take this slow, Pete. Ease into it, you know? And right now, that means that we go to the diner, and we keep it casual, and we kinda feel each other out before we dive in to the over-priced restaurants, okay? He's not snubbing me or disrespecting me or whatever other word you want to use. We're 22; the diner is as fancy as we get on a first date."

Pete nodded and wrapped his own arms around her, pulling her close and dropping a kiss on her forehead. "Okay. As long as he picks up the check and pays for as many extra onions and glasses of highly caffeinated soda that you want." Claudia just laughed and buried her head in his chest. She had to admit that it felt nice to have someone be so protective of her, so invested in her happiness. Joshua had been like that when she was younger and, in some ways, he still was, but there's only so much he could do from Switzerland. Pete had become her official, on-site big brother and she couldn't be happier.

A/N: okay guys, I finally managed to get another chapter. I know it is very short, but I wanted to get something up. This may feel like the end, but I have a few ideas still floating around in my head inspired by subsequent episodes, so you may see another chapter popping up in the near future.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: hey guys, sorry it's been so long. I've been really inspired by this season's episodes, but for some reason I just couldn't type it all out. This is going to be a really long post, so I may break it up into multiple chapters, but you **will** get it all today.  
Just a note before we start, when you see **** in the middle of the page (hopefully it will show up), it means a switch of emphasis. The story will still be in third person, but the focus will be on a different person. This will all make sense as you read, I promise, but I just wanted to let you guys know that you could be reading the same scene again, but it will sort of be from another character's perspective.

"Peeettteee!"

The secret service agent rolled his eyes and heaved himself off of the couch to answer the call.

"You bellowed?" he asked as he entered the girl's bedroom. The mess he found upon arrival was enough to make even him pause in his tracks. Clothes covered every possible surface in the room and more were being thrown out of the closet at a sporadic rhythm.

Finally, Claudia emerged from the closet in her pajamas, her hair more than slightly ruffled. "I need a guy's perspective…" pausing for affect, Claudia gave him a sly look before continuing, "…and since Artie's not here-" she didn't get a chance to finish that sentence before Pete had pulled her into his embrace, tickling her mercilessly. After a few minutes of stubbornly refusing to answer Pete's repetition of "Take that back!," Claudia finally succumbed to the pressure.

When they both had composed themselves, Claudia took on 'a serious pose' and looked at Pete imploringly. "What am I supposed to wear to this thing?" she asked, more than slightly unsure of herself. It was no secret that Claudia had her own, slightly eccentric style and she didn't know if that really translated to 'date.' "Do you think Myka would let me borrow something of hers? I really want to look nice for this."

"NO!" Pete said quickly.

"You're right. There's no way I would look good in Myka's stuff. I can't pull off the whole 'femme-bot supper vixen' thing." She said somewhat dejectedly.

"No, Claudia, no. That is not what I meant _at all_. You would look _amazing _in _anything. _I told you before that you're gorgeous and I meant it. What I was _trying_ to say was that part of what makes you so special is your uniqueness and, although they don't define you in any way, your clothes are part of what stand out. I love your style, Claud. Don't change yourself for some kid because you are perfect the way you are and obviously he liked what he saw the first time he met you."

"Wow! You really have this whole 'big brother motivational speech' thing down, don't you." She said with a teasing smile. As she spoke, however, she walked over to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his torso, silently telling him how truly touched she was.

Pete held her for a moment before pushing her away a bit and clearing his throat. "Okay, now that we have the emotional stuff taken care of, I suggest you where jeans and some form of a top, preferably one that covers you up to your neck so I don't have to kill the kid, and a jacket-it's getting a little cold out." With that he turned around and left the room.

Claudia let a smile cover her face as she yelled "Yes Dad" down the stairs

((((())))

The door to Lena's inn slowly opened to reveal a serious looking man, perhaps one with an anger issue- who knew- standing with his arms crossed, showing off biceps that seemed to be bigger than Todd's head. After looking him up and down, obviously sizing him up, the man turned around and, without saying a word, walked into what Todd assumed to be the living room. The younger man took the still-open door as a silent invitation to enter. As he walked behind the older man, Todd was sure that he saw a gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans, but quickly disregarded the thought_. It couldn't be a gun, right? I mean, how could it be a gun?_

After what seemed like an endless silence, the man turned around and nodded his head toward the couch while he went upstairs, presumably to get Claudia- at least that's what he hoped. Todd gingerly sat down, trying to not make any sudden movements for fear of setting this guy off.

((((())))

Pete gently rapped on Claudia's door and waited until he heard a muffled "come in" before he slowly opened the door. "Todd's here." He said as he leaned against the door jam and watched her put the final touches on her look while sitting at her vanity table. Claudia looked up and caught his gaze in their reflections in the mirror. "You didn't scare him too much did you?" she asked hesitantly. Pete laughed and made his way towards her, their gazes still locked. "I didn't say a word to him." He said innocently.

At her dubious look, Pete smirked and walked up to her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. He placed a kiss on the crown of her head, an action that was quickly becoming a habit. "Don't worry about it. He's fine. Now, you finish up and I'll go tell him that you're almost ready. And by the way," he paused to lock gazes with her again, "you look beautiful. I told you that whatever you chose would be perfect. You should learn to listen to me more since I'm almost always right." Laughing, Pete barely dodged her punch before walking out the door and back to the _kid_ currently sitting on _his_ couch.

((((())))

Todd glanced nervously over to the statue that was currently occupying space in the arm chair to his right. The man, he had yet to introduce himself and that alone was a little frightening wasn't looking at him but rather straight ahead, his arms once again crossed to show scarily bulging muscles, and this time Todd was certain that he could see a gun. He gulped audibly and swore that he saw the statue's eyes light up a little with glee.

Finally, after what seemed to him like a lifetime and a half, he heard footsteps on the stairs and Claudia appeared in his field of vision. Almost instantaneously, the statue sprang to life. A huge smile was plastered across his face as he quite literally jumped out of his seat. Todd looked back over at Claudia to see that she too was smiling, laughing even, and before even looking at him, she walked over to this man and they wrapped their arms around each other in an obviously well-practiced show of affection. After what seemed like way too much time to be in another guy's arms to Todd, the 'couple' pulled apart. Before Todd could even straighten himself up to be 'presented' to Claudia, the two began fervently whispering. They went back and forth a few times before she kissed the man's cheek, which he had previously tapped, presumably demanding said kiss, and the man kissed hers, which she had seemingly happily presented to him, and Claudia finally turned away from the no-longer-statue guy and towards him.

((((())))

Claudia was just quick enough to catch Pete scaring the crap out of Todd before he quickly switched into the happy-go-lucky Pete she knew and love. Despite being a little miffed at his behavior, she couldn't help but smile and laugh when he jumped out of the chair with a huge, goofy smile. She could do nothing else but walk over and hug him.

As they hugged, Claudia leaned up slightly and whispered in his ear "I saw you scaring him." She felt Pete shake his head against her neck before he responded with a fake-indignant "I did no such thing"

"Peeete"

"Claaaudiaa"

"Come on, Pete. You're wearing the shirt that you know makes your muscles look huge, especially when you crossed your arms and did that lovely impersonation of a statue and-" Claudia pulled back quickly and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Oh my God! You have a gun on you!" She demanded in a whisper

"How do you know that it's a gun and I'm just not hap-"

"Do NOT go there, Pete."

"You're right, sorry." He said with a cringe, realizing that this wasn't the time for jokes like that. "Listen, I know that you didn't want me to give him a lecture about treating you right, and I didn't, but I wanted to make sure _he _knew that you are protected; that there are people here who love you and would gladly inflict major bodily harm if something ever happened to you while the two of you are together and maybe even after that. And I want you to always remember that, okay? I'll always be here if you need me- never more than a Farnsworth call away." Before she could respond, Pete smiled and turned his head to the side a bit while tapping his cheek. "Now give me a kiss and go talk to this date of yours before he thinks that you've upgraded to something far better and picked me over him."

A part of Claudia wanted to kill Pete for a comment like that but a bigger part was, though she would never admit it, utterly moved by it. She could only laugh at his antics and lean up to kiss the cheek he was presenting to her. She then similarly turned her cheek towards him and inclined her head a bit so he wouldn't have to lean down far, demanding a kiss of her own. Pete smiled and leaned down to comply with her demand. As he was pulling away, he softly whispered "I love you, sis" into her ear and stepped away from her completely so she could finally greet her date.

As the coupled walked out of the inn, Todd turned to her and asked who that man was. A soft smile formed on her face. "My brother. My protector"

"I thought you said that your brother wasn't here?"

"Oh, he's not my brother by blood, but he might as well be."

Todd nodded slowly, as if trying to understand something very complicated. "Well, I'm glad you're not actually related because that guy is clearly crazy." He said it as a joke but soon realized that it was _really_ the wrong thing to say when she stopped walked and leveled a steely gaze on him.

"_Excuse_ me?"

"Oh-Uh-I-I mean come on Claudia, the guy sat completely still in a chair for 15 minutes with a gun strapped to his side. Something is not right there."

"That _guy_ is the greatest thing that has happened to me a loooong time. He's saved my life more times than I can count. He puts himself in danger every day, sees the worst of humanity and yet still has faith in it. He is sweet and caring and funny and amazing and-" here, she let out a huge sigh as her eyes got a little glassy and her throat tightened a bit from emotion.

Though she would never admit it out loud, Claudia had had the _tiniest, slightest_ crush on Pete. She soon realized that most of her feelings for him were based in the fact that for 12 years she didn't have anyone who cared about her as much as Pete did. Well, to be fair, there was Artie, but he had immediately slipped into the father-figure role. With Pete, however, there was a bit of a transition period where she _briefly_ entertained romantic feelings for him before they fell into the comfortable role of siblings. Consequently, he occupied a _**huge**_ space in her heart and that wouldn't change just because she was suddenly going on a date with someone.

Claudia shook her head slowly and looked back at Todd. "He's twice the guy that you could ever dream of being, Todd, so I suggest that you don't talk about him like that anymore, because I promise that if it's a choice between you and him, it _**will not **_end well for you." With that, she continued the walk down to his car with Todd following behind her wondering what the hell just happened and hoping that he could salvage the rest of the date.

((((())))

Back in the inn, Pete settled in on the couch and grabbed the remote to channel surf, ready for a long night of waiting up for Claudia. While she didn't have a curfew, he wanted to be up when she came home.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: okay, so this next chapter is really going to be snippets from several episodes that inspired me enough to write something, but not enough to write a whole chapter. The entire thing will probably be fairly short. By the way, I'm expanding time between most episodes to about a month.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

_Post Episode 13.1_

Despite a disastrous start to their first date, Todd and Claudia had been going strong for about a month. Suddenly, however, he broke things off with her after Doug visited the warehouse. It had been a loooong day and everyone else on the team had already gone to bed.

"_I just don't think we should do this anymore."_ What the hell did that mean? Claudia held it together in front of him, refusing to cry, refusing to show weakness.

As soon as he left, she ran upstairs, quickly changed into pajamas, and ran to Pete's room, gently rasping her knuckles on his door with tears just beginning to trail down her cheeks. When she didn't get an answer, she slowly pushed the door open and poked her head in.

"Pete?" she called out in a broken whisper. The man in question rolled over and looked at her, sleep obviously slowing his movements. As soon as he realized who was standing in her doorway, he was suddenly wide awake and pushed himself up into sitting position.

"Claudia? What do you need? What happened." The last sentence was said, not asked, and he was extremely serious, noticing the tears on her face.

Claudia just shook her head and looked at him with a vulnerable expression on her face. "Can I just stay with you tonight?"

Pete's face softened and he wordlessly scooted over to one side of the bed. Claudia practically ran to the bed and climbed in, quickly tucking herself into Pete's side once he settled himself in again. He wiped the tears off her cheeks and held her close, pulling the blanket up and over her shoulders to make sure that she was warm enough. After spending so much time with her, Pete had come to realize when you needed to prod at her until she talked to you and when you needed to let her broach the subject first. This moment fell into the latter category. Until she was ready, he just held her and lightly rubbed her back.

"Todd broke up with me." She whispered into his chest where her head was resting. Pete knew that threatening the kid with bodily harm would get him nowhere, so he just pressed a kiss to her head, held her a little closer and resumed stroking her back, slowly lulling her to sleep. "He didn't deserve you" he whispered once he knew that she was asleep.

Pete didn't get much sleep that night. He dozed off here and there but, for the most part, he stayed up and kept watch over the young girl in his arms, making sure that she didn't wake up in the middle of the night. This was, for all intents and purposes, his little sister and he would be damned if anyone hurt her in any way.

a/n: Okay, I lied, this is all you get tonight. More snippets later.


	5. Chapter 5

_Post Around the Bend _

Pete crossed his arms and leaned on the door jam, studying the young girl sitting at the desk. After a few minutes of watching her in her element, hacking into something or another, Pete gently rapped his knuckles against the solid wooden door. Claudia turned to him a smiled, pushing herself back from the desk. "What can I do for you, sir?" she asked with a smile, deliriously happy that her old Pete was back.

Pete silently walked into the room and sat down on the edge of her bed, never taking his eyes off of her.

"Okay, I give. What's up with the creepy staring thing?"

Pete continued to stare, sizing her up-scrutinizing her. "I'm trying to figure out when you started to be afraid of me."

Claudia immediately cracked up, laughing so hard that she almost fell out of her chair. "Afraid of you? Really? Did that artifact really mess with your head that much?" she asked dubiously.

Pete, on the other hand, retained his stoic expression. "You flinched." He said simply while turning his eyes away from her. He loved Claudia so much and the very idea that she could fear him shook him to the core.

"I flinched?" Claudia's face contorted into a confused expression before it realization dawned on her. "Oh, no no no no no no." she repeated as she moved over to sit next to him on the bed and grabbed his forearm. "That had nothing to do with you." She said emphatically. When he gave no sign that he had heard her, she gently nudged his side. "Hey, come on. Look at me-Pete look at me" she said more forcefully. Finally he turned to face her and she reached up to frame his face with her hands, staring directly into his eyes. "That had _**nothing **_to do with you, okay? I trust you with my life, with my everything, with- I know that you would rather die than let anything happen to me." She then leaned up and rested her forehead against his. "I am not afraid of you" she whispered emphatically.

She pulled away slightly and shifted back on the bed, pulling him with her until they both hit the back of the bed. They automatically settled into their habitual position of her nestled into his side with his arms wrapped around her.

"Hey Claud, can I ask you a question?" he asked while gently rubbing her arm and shoulder. He felt the girl bury her head further into his chest and felt more than heard her mumble "my foster father" into his T-shirt.

"What?"

Claudia lifted her head up to look him in the eye again. "You wanted to know why I flinched, right? It's because of my foster father- the fourth one I had." She pushed herself further into his side, relishing in the feeling of warmth and protection she found there- very different from the fear she supposedly felt when around him.

"He drank. A lot. And he got angry. A lot." She said lightly, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Usually he would just yell and stuff, but if he had a really bad day he would get more violent" she admitted. The silent tears trailing down her cheeks betrayed her casual tone. " By that time, I was already seeing Joshua and he wasn't so happy that the foster kid he took in was crazy. I stayed there for a year until i aged out of the program and ended up checking myself into the loony bin soon after."

Pete didn't know what to say. How could someone have possibly hurt her? The only could he could do was drop a kiss to the crown of her head and whisper 'no one will hurt you, ever again. I won't let them." against her hair.

"I know" Claudia whispered back, her head softly pillowed on his pectoral muscle as she drifted off to sleep with Pete not far behind her.


	6. Chapter 6

_During the scene with Kelly in the last episode. Kelly just fled the room. _

"Dude, let me talk to her okay?" the redheaded girl asked, placing her hand on his chest to halt his motion.

"Claudia-"

"Stop. Pete, I've been there, okay? I know what it feels like when you think that you are a danger to the ones you love. It's _terrifying_. I think I can talk her down from this, but you gotta let me work some Claudia magic on it" Pete smiled despite himself and nodded his consent. As Claudia turned to walk out of the room, Pete called her back.

"Hey, have I thanked you for saving me, yet? Because that was all kinds of awesome and the whole you fighting with Kelly thing? Kind of hot" he said with a smirk, trying to get her to laugh. It worked. The girl laughed and slapped his arm before spontaneously wrapping her arms around him and squeezing tight.

"Whoah, hey now, what is this?" he asked gently when he noticed that she seemed to be crying a bit. _When did this girl start crying so much? _'When she let you in enough to see her at her most vulnerable, idiot' that annoying voice in the back of his head snapped back at him.

"I've never been so scared in my life. I thought she was going to- that I was going to-"Claudia trailed off, not able to even think about the end of that sentence.

Pete pushed her back gently and tucked her colored streak behind her ear. "She didn't. I'm fine, not a scratch. And you, my dear, were completely bad ass." Claudia laughed again and wiped the tear tracks from her face.

"Alright, well it's time for me to go be 'all kinds of awesome' again and save your relationship.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Claudia found Kelly in her office staring at her reflection in the window.

"It's petrifying, isn't it?" Kelly jumped in surprise, not knowing that the girl had entered, but did not respond.

Claudia walked farther into the room, catching Kelly's eye in the window, a trick she had learned from Pete. "The idea that you could be a danger to the ones you love? That you could end up hurting the one person you want to protect the most?" the redhead finally stopped at Kelly's desk and leaned against the edge, not wanting to crowd the young vet too much.

Kelly finally spun around and turned towards Claudia, her eyes confused. "How do you know-"

"I can't get into too much information. Pete can tell you more if you let him, but just know that I've been there. I thought that I had endangered the entire team, my _family_, my only family. In fact most of that family _thought _that I had endangered them, betrayed them. I think Pete was the only one who never believed that I could have done that. No matter what people said to him, he knew that they are the only family I have left and that I would hold on to them with everything I am. It turns out that someone was framing me, but that's another story. The point is that when I thought I could be hurting them, the only thing I wanted to do was take off, run away to protect them."

Kelly looked away and Claudia knew that was exactly what the vet had been planning on doing. "But you know what happened when I left? I felt horrible. I missed my family so much it physically hurt sometimes. Turns out they felt the same and came after me." Claudia pushed off of the desk and walked closer to Kelly.

"I know that it's hard to see right now, but running off isn't going to solve anything. You're frightened and I get that, but if you leave you'll be heartbroken and so will Pete. He doesn't blame you if that makes a difference. Trust me, this isn't the first time a girl as chased him with a knife, I'm sure. Just hear him out before you make a decision." With that Claudia turned to leave, not wanting to overwhelm the older woman too much.

When she got to the door, she stopped and turned to look at Kelly again. "Pete is the best, okay? You won't find someone better. He's funny and goofy and sometimes you just want to strangle him, but he is smart, much smarter than most people give him credit for, and he's loyal; once you've earned his trust, he'll stand by you no matter what and he'll protect you with his life. He's had a hard life, one that could easily have made him jaded and cold, but instead he loves harder than anyone I've ever met; he puts everything he is into it. Don't give that up because you're frightened, Kelly. You're lucky enough to be one of the few in Pete's heart and, frankly, you'd be a fool to let that go so easily. Hold on to it-to him." With that, Claudia finally left the room, leaving Kelly with a lot to think about.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Pete was sitting on the couch in the living room when Kelly walked in. He quickly made a move to get up, but Kelly just shook her head and sat down next to him. The two didn't say anything for a bit; Kelly was the one to finally break the silence.

"You've got a really big fan in Claudia." Pete just looked at her, not understanding what she meant.

"She was great, you know- when she came to talk to me. She knew exactly what I was feeling, what I was thinking, and sort of talked me down from the ledge, so to speak, but as she was leaving, she stopped and gave me a speech about you- I don't think you could have paid someone to say better things." Kelly shifted closer to him on the couch.

"What did she say?" Pete asked, a small smile making its way onto his face as he thought of the feisty girl singing his praises.

"She said that I would never find someone better than you and that I'd be a fool to give up the elite honor of being in your heart, of being one of the few you trust and love completely. She's young, but she seems wise beyond her years, that girl." The vet said with a smirk

Pete smiled and turned his head to look up for a minute, as if he could see her through the ceiling, before looking back to Kelly. "She's had to deal with more in 22 years than anyone should have to deal with in a life time, and yet she still has a sense of humor and she is still able to open up to people, albeit a very small number of people. I don't know, she's amazing." He said, admiration evident in his voice.

Kelly laughed slightly and shook her head. "That's pretty much the same thing she said about you." She turned serious then and angled herself to look at him fully. "I don't want to run away, but I am kindof wigged out by happened. I'm not going to leave and I'm not breaking up with you, but can we just go a little slower until I get over this."

"Of course, however long you need, as long as you don't disappear on me." Pete said, nodding eagerly.

Kelly smiled and leaned forward to hug him. "I promise." She whispered. Pete's arms wrapped around her as he held her tightly. Lifting his head up, he saw Claudia walking down the stairs. Catching her eye, he mouthed "Thank you" to her.

Claudia nodded and smiled. "You're welcome."

The silent 'I love you' was felt on both ends and the two knew that whatever happened, Pete and Claudia had each other's backs. After all, that's what siblings are for.

A/N: alright kids, that's all for me. thank you to those who have reviewed, though i would have like to have gotten more than 7 review in 6 chapters, but oh well beggars can't be choosers and i'm certainly a beggar. thank you for reading and putting up with short and far between posts, and i hope you liked it.


End file.
